NY Attorney General, Letitia James, has announced the ban on ghost gun sales. A Florida-based ghost gun parts seller, Indie Guns, has been permanently banned from selling uncompleted receivers and frames in New York. The company has agreed to pay $7.8 million in a settlement for illegally shipping ghost gun components to the state. The lawsuit against the retailer is settled, but the litigation against nine other ghost gun retailers continues.
Highlights of the Investigation
According to AG James, Ghost guns, untraceable firearms assembled from components and parts, pose a major threat to public safety. Indie Guns was charged for advertising ghost gun parts to avoid gun laws and sell them without background checks. According to the owner, the company’s plan is to flood the market with untraceable gun components.
It is worth mentioning that Indie Guns sold ghost gun building kits, which it marketed as “UNSERIALIZED, UNREGISTERED, UNTRACEABLE.” The company marketed ghost AR-style assault weapon assembly kits and offered Lock Stock and Barrel (LSB) kits for constructing complete pistols. Investigations revealed that they shipped the ghost gun parts to undercover investigators across New York.
According to New York laws, peddling unfinished receivers or frames, which are the core of a firearm, is a felony in New York. These parts have no serial numbers, which allows buyers to use basic tools at home to make ghost guns.
Attorney General James sued Indie Guns and nine other retailers in June 2022 for selling thousands of uncompleted receivers and frames to New Yorkers. He also secured an order preventing the defendants from peddling ghost guns in New York state in March 2023.
The other nine gun distributors banned from shipping their wares into New York were Brownells, Inc., Salvo Technologies, Inc., Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, G.S. Performance, LLC, Primary Arms, LLC, Rainier Arms, LLC, Arm or Ally, LLC, KM Tactical LLC, and Rock Slide USA, LLC.
In February 2024, Judge Furman of the Southern District of New York, denied a motion moved by the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit. The prosecution was led by Special Counsels Monica Hanna, James Thompson, Molly Thomas-Jensen, Assistant Attorneys, General Matthew Conrad and Abigail Katowitz. Supported by Data Scientist, Kenneth Morales, Legal Support Analyst, Labiba Hasan, Conrad, Director of Research, and Analytics Jonathan Werberg with the overall supervision of First Deputy Attorney General, Jennifer Levy.
The investigation was carried out by investigators Peter Schottenfeld, Paul Matthews, and Chad Shelmidine with the supervision of former deputy Chief Investigators, Jonathan Wood and Edward Carrasco.Attorney General James Secures $7.8M, Permanently Bans Ghost Gun Sales from Indie Guns Retailer
